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NCAA MEN'S FINAL FOURMarch 29, 2010Bob HugginsINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA DAVE WORLOCK: We have Coach Huggins from West Virginia University. Coach Huggins, congratulations on advancing to your second Final Four, and your first at your alma mater of West Virginia. Great accomplishment and we wish you the best of luck as you make your way to Indianapolis. Thank you for your time this afternoon to take some calls from the media. We'll go ahead and take our first caller for Coach Huggins. Q. West Virginia, what would an initial title mean to it? COACH HUGGINS: They'd be crazy. They'd be partying in the streets I think in every town in the state. You understand how important it is. It's hard to get a grasp on how much it means to the state. Q. Bob, I was wondering, what is the latest on 'Truck' Bryant? How much do you expect him to practice this week? He said he would play Saturday. Is that a definite? COACH HUGGINS: No, I don't have any idea. We're not going to go today. We really won't know until we see what we can do tomorrow and Wednesday, see how he progresses. Q. Could you talk a little about the history and tradition at West Virginia. I'm one of the old guys who remembers Jerry West when he played in the pros. Can you talk about that influence on you when you were younger and your connection to the school as a player, the fact you took the job when it became open to go home, how that has influenced you, what it means for you to be the guy that has taken West Virginia back to the Final Four? COACH HUGGINS: Well, you know, I can go back probably about as far as Jerry. I would have liked to have seen the other guys. But the tradition here is great. When you think that for a period of time we had Rod Hundley, and Jerry was a freshman when Ron was a senior, and freshmen couldn't play. So as soon as Rod was gone, we had Jerry. And then Rod Thorn came in, was a freshman when Jerry was a senior. As soon as Jerry was gone, we had Rod. And then shortly after, we had Fritz Williams. And they're all West Virginia guys, West Virginia natives. There's great tradition here. I think there's great tradition here of one of our own coaching this team. I think if you go back to Fred Schaus, go back to Gale Catlett, people here I think relate very much to the people who played here and the people who were from here. I can remember sitting on my grandfather's lap listening to Jack Fleming call games. You know, my grandfather never, never missed a game on the radio. I think there's certainly thousands and thousands of other people who grew up the same way. Q. I understand, unlike Magic Johnson who has been quite visible at Michigan State games, Jerry West tends to stay away, afraid he brings bad luck when he comes. I know his son is on your team. I don't know what it would be like to be a West playing for West Virginia a couple generations later. Do you think that affects Jonnie West's daily life just because of his last name? COACH HUGGINS: I think Jonnie loves it. Jonnie is a wonderful guy, a great teammate. I tell you, the players love him. Jerry came to the game in Anaheim, I think it was the championship game in Anaheim. It's hard to be Jerry West anywhere, but it's particularly hard to be Jerry West in this state because you don't have any peace and quiet, if you know what I mean. It's hard, I think, for Jerry to come to a game and watch a game because of the admiration that people have for him. Q. Needs a luxury box away from everybody. COACH HUGGINS: Yeah, that would be all right. Q. Can you talk about an injury to Truck, is it possible to come back so quickly like that? How much difference would a boot make? COACH HUGGINS: You're asking the wrong guy. I'm trying to figure out how to guard a screen and roll. I don't have any idea. I just know that they said with this, there was a chance that he could play, so... For Truck's sake and the rest of our guys, we're going to explore every opportunity. Q. Is this group of players more team-oriented rather than maybe relying on one star or is it somewhere in between? COACH HUGGINS: I don't know. I mean, I think everybody can see every time we need a basket who ends up with it. But I think that's team-oriented because he's the guy with the best chance to make it. We were struggling to score the other day, and we ran two sets for Da', and he made two big threes for us. Q. What has made your defense so effective this year? COACH HUGGINS: Well, I think our length has something to do with it. We didn't get to the ball, I didn't think, in the early part of the year. I thought we became way too man-conscious and we really didn't help each other as much as what we needed to. I think in the last, I don't know, probably three weeks, month, we've really gotten a lot better. Q. Six out of your last 10 games you've held opponents to under 60 points. What's changed from the beginning of the season to now? COACH HUGGINS: Necessity. We're not going to score a whole lot of points. Our guys want to win. So I think they understand we've got to do a great job of guarding. Q. Coach, what are the keys, in your opinion, to competing against Duke? COACH HUGGINS: Well, I think we've got to rebound the ball. I think what Mike has done with his big guys is terrific. They really rebound the basketball. I think the turning point of the Baylor game was their ability to offensive rebound the ball, then kick it out for open shots. They do a great job of that. Q. You haven't played them since two years ago, right? COACH HUGGINS: Right. Q. How much benefit would it be to go back, for either team, and look at that game two years ago? How much of a benefit will it be to you to watch that film? COACH HUGGINS: We'll go back and look at it. We'll go back and look at all that. I'm sure Mike will go back and look at the tape, as well. Q. You guys closed out games in the tournament, you won so many close games in the Big East tournament. I go back to the triple overtime game. (Interruption in connection.) COACH HUGGINS: It's really special being able to do it here and being able to do it with this group of guys. You know, I've said this. At the risk of being redundant, we lost in overtime to Carolina in '93, and one of our key guys tore his knee up the game before. In '96 we lost a close game to Mississippi State. In 2000, Kenyon broke his leg. We had chances. I think anybody who follows basketball would agree that we had a legitimate chance to win it every one of those years. It's just, what are you going to do? You can't control injuries. I think this group has done a marvelous job of compensating for not having Truck. Q. Not being there for a long time, are you more appreciative, maybe is the right word, of being back? COACH HUGGINS: I don't know. I thought we'd get back. I mean, I honestly don't know how to answer that. I told our guys when I came in here that we were going to win the national championship. That's what we want to do. Q. Obviously a long time between Final Fours. What is the biggest difference in who you are as a coach and a person now as opposed to who you were in 1992? COACH HUGGINS: I don't know. I don't think I'm a whole lot different. Obviously I'm older. Hopefully, as you get older and you experience a lot of things, you get smarter. Other than that, I don't know. Q. Coach, you answered the question a lot this year about the number of New York players on your team, what you see in their makeup and their mental toughness, that right sort of thing. Did it happen that you caught a nice run of recruiting guys from out of there the first couple years you were there or what was it? Was there anything that triggered the influx of the New York players into the program over the short amount of time, understanding you inherited one in Da'Sean? COACH HUGGINS: Actually two. Wellington Smith is from New Jersey. Obviously the Big East is strong in New York. If you're a Big East school, it enables you to get into a lot of doors in metropolitan New York. I think certainly we wouldn't have been involved with those guys if it were not for the Big East. You know, then I think kids want to play in the NBA. I've been very fortunate to have a bunch of guys that have played in the NBA. Q. Is there anything in particular you can think of, in your opinion, in what you pitched or told them about either yourself or program, playing in the Big East or anything like that, that you think may have made a difference? COACH HUGGINS: I told them we're going to be special, we're going to be special, we're going to win the national championship. That's our goal. Q. And you've talked a lot about Da'Sean as well. How important was it, you came along, he was still there, he was in between about playing for a different coach, really winning him over, making sure he embraced the program, sort of allowing him to become the player that he's become? COACH HUGGINS: I think the first time that we met as a team, you can't imagine, they were all onboard. A lot of things were different. We lifted a lot harder and did some other things. But they have never questioned why, they have never asked, Why are we doing this? Is this necessary? They were absolutely terrific from day one. Q. Over the last few years, Final Four, you always hear the talk about to get to the Final Four or to win a national championship you have to have X-amount of future NBA players, you have to have some McDonald's All-Americans on your team. Are these four teams in the Final Four proving that maybe not necessarily, just as long as you can play some defense? COACH HUGGINS: I would think that Duke has quite a few McDonald's All-Americans. I think Michigan State has quite a few McDonald's All-Americans. Certainly Duke has pros. Butler has pros. Michigan State has pros. I think we've got a couple. You know, I think to advance in this tournament, you have to be able to defend. But I think that's all the time. People do it different ways, but... Q. Great day to be a Mountaineer. COACH HUGGINS: Every day is, man. Q. Used to be a football coach that left and said, I want to go to a place where instead of hoping to win they expect to win. Can you talk about these kids expecting to win, changing the culture, if it ever really needed changing, about expecting to win instead of hoping? COACH HUGGINS: Well, for whatever reason, Al McGuire took a liking to me. I was very fortunate to be able to spend a good deal of time around Al. I asked Al one time, When did you know that you guys had arrived at Marquette, that you were a force to be reckoned with, and that you were going to be in every game no matter who you played or where you played it? And he said, When we were able to walk into any venue without fear. I think if you look at our road record, I think if you look at what our guys have done in so-called neutral games, I mean, I think we're there with this group. I mean, I think they certainly had great respect for Kentucky. They have great respect for Duke and what Mike's accomplished there. But, you know, there's a difference between respecting your opponent and fearing them. And I don't think our guys fear anybody. Q. Coach, I know that you talked a lot about the emotion because it's West Virginia. At any point has it been kind of overwhelming for you to have your dream job and accomplish all that you've accomplished this year? It seemed like maybe it was getting there when you were on the court at Madison Square Garden winning the Big East? COACH HUGGINS: We're in the largest city in the world, most famous city in the world, they're playing Country Roads on the loud speaker. Who is not going to get choked up? John Denver probably would have cried. Q. There's a lot of talk here about Duke's leadership, how impressive it's been all year. Yet I know a lot of people point to your team as having incredible leadership. Did you first sense this team could be special in that regard early in the season or even before the season began? COACH HUGGINS: Well, I've said this a bunch. But when you're best player is arguably your best person, without a question your hardest worker, you're going to be pretty good. And we're very fortunate to have Da'Sean Butler. Da'Sean is the first one in every day, the last one to leave. He's got great respect among his teammates. He's a wonderful, wonderful human being to be around. I think that permeates down through your whole team. We've just got good guys. Everybody keeps asking me what our strength is. I think the truth is we got really good guys. We got good guys. They like each other. They play their butts off. They're just good people. DAVE WORLOCK: Coach Huggins, thank you for your time this afternoon. Good luck. Safe travels to Indy. We'll see you in a few days. COACH HUGGINS: My pleasure, thank you. DAVE WORLOCK: We want to thank everyone for participating on this afternoon's teleconference. Our next media opportunity will be the breakout sessions which take place Thursday beginning at 10:50 a.m. eastern time. Each head coach and five student-athletes from the four institutions will be available throughout the afternoon on Thursday. Thanks again, everyone. We'll talk to you all soon. End of FastScripts |
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